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Pete Seeger: The dissident who was never dissonant

“Wherever he went, he got people singing.” So begins the beautifully illustrated children’s book, Listen: How Pete Seeger Got American Singing (Roaring Brook Press, 2017), by Vermont author Leda Schubert. The book chronicles the life and times of America’s most famous musical dissident. Schubert discusses her meeting with Seeger, and her personal shared history: During the anti-communist witch hunts led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, Seeger was hauled before House Un-American Activities Committee and charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify; Schubert’s father also lost his government job during this time. Schubert also discusses how a progressive summer camp first brought her to Vermont, and why she writes for children. (June 28, 2017 broadcast)